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5 out of 5 stars and 16 reviews
5
(16)Serving California and destinations worldwide
About this vendor
Based near Santa Barbara, California, top wedding planner Amy Nichols has been planning bespoke weddings and celebrations for over a decade. Born and raised on an avocado and lemon farm in Southern California, she has always had a love of nature, design and entertaining! After graduating from Middlebury College, she began her career in finance in New York City and quickly realized that passion for celebrating life’s moments could be a rewarding and fulfilling profession. From there, she made her way back to California and founded Amy Nichols Special Events, where her affinity for details and welcoming personality have earned her a sterling reputation.
Amy believes that life is full of reasons to celebrate. She cherishes the role she gets to play in the lives of her clients, serving as both a close confidant and a trustworthy advocate as she works tirelessly to execute the refined, effortless events for which she is known. Amy understands that the little things in life – the perfect glass of wine, a stunning sunset over an exotic beach, or that first mouthwatering bite of an extraordinary meal – should be revered, and she brings a deep appreciation for these fleeting moments to every event she designs.
Her work can be seen in The Knot, Brides, Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty, 100 Layer Cake and other publications.
Amy and team have planned weddings in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Napa, Sonoma, Laguna Beach, Chicago, Zihuatanejo Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bali and other destinations around the world.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Planning
Planning
- Destination Wedding Planning
- Full Service Wedding Planning
- Se Habla Español
Wedding Activities
- Rehearsals & Parties
- Wedding
Awards and Affiliations
2013 'Best of Weddings'
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
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Reviews
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5
out of 5.016 reviews
Incredible- from the minute we signed the contract, Amy went into full planning mode as she did EVERYTHING for us. She helped us secure our site venue, our vendors, travel plans f...
or our guests and even sourced our welcome bags. She is organized, resourceful, creative and a great negotiator. Our wedding was a huge success thanks to Amy, and everyone who attended our destination wedding would agree. I HIGHLY recommend Amy's services to everyone I know- she's that good! Best decision I made, besides picking my husband ;)
Amy Nichols is fabulous! Choosing Amy to plan and organize our daughter's June 2015 wedding was the best decision we made. Amy was invaluable in helping us plan the perfect wedding...
.
She was a delight to work with! She listened to what we wanted and helped us create the wedding day of my daughter's dreams.
Her vendor recommendations were invaluable. She has incredible resources of gorgeous venues and extraordinarily talented florists, photographers, musicians, officiants, and more to share with you.
Her attention to detail is incredible. She draws up a list of tasks which need to be completed so nothing is forgotten or overlooked.
She is highly organized and kept us on our time schedule.
On the day of the wedding she and her wonderful team handled everything! We showed up and had a fun, stress free time.
Our friends are still talking about the wedding, saying it was one of the best ones they ever attended. I know we couldn't have done it without Amy's incredible talent. We HIGHLY recommend her.
Amy was our wedding planner extraordinaire back in 2011 and we couldn't have pulled off the San Francisco weekend without her! She was the secret weapon to our perfect day!
When my husband (then boyfriend) proposed, I immediately suggested that we elope. He rightly wanted to have a wedding. Since I was reluctant to have all the pomp and circumstance (...
I just wanted to be married, not have a wedding), I hired Amy Nichols Special Events to coordinate for me.
I am SO GLAD I did! Amy did site visits with pros and cons of each, negotiated rates, and had recommendations for excellent vendors in all price points. She helped us turn a traditional venue into something that reflected our more playful sense of style and made it all look so easy.
I really couldn't have gotten married without Amy. One of my favorite parts of the night was when, after a few hours of dancing, she came over to me and whispered that she'd put some flip flops underneath my chair for me to change into which was heavenly. She has this level of attention to detail and our comfort and enjoyment was her number one priority. Thank you, Amy!
Amy was wonderful! We had a somewhat tricky venue, which Amy provided invaluable help negotiating. She provided wonderful vendor recommendations (and just a few choice ones in ea...
ch category, so we weren't overwhelmed), and we were extremely happy with everyone she referred us to. She's really sweet, fun, and flexible and made the planning process easy. She provided lots of spreadsheets and other goodies to help keep us organized. But Amy shines the most the month of - I had almost zero stress because she was so on top of everything. She provided great advice in negotiating some tricky etiquette and family situations, and then executed the day of completely flawlessly.
We worked with Amy for our wedding in 2012 and could not have been happier. I had a good idea of what I wanted, but Amy knew all the right vendors to work with to make my vision a ...
reality, which really made the planning easy. I take organization very seriously and Amy is very well organized. She gave me timelines to keep me on track throughout the planning process, and gave me a push when I got stuck on a decision so we wouldn't fall behind on the timeline. She had excellent detailed timelines for the day-of, and made sure everyone knew where they needed to be and when, and kept everything on timeline the day-of. She has a wonderfully calm and collected presence, exactly what you want from someone who is helping you coordinate a big event. Amy is truly everything you could ask for in a wedding planner!
Amy Nichols is an amazing, organized and up to date planner who knows all things weddings like the back of her hand. She has been a crucial part of my wedding planning and I know I...
can count on her or any of her associates to have an answer for me on any questions I may have. I interviewed many different planners and often walked away feeling frustrated that I didnt have the "feeling" about any of them until my meeting with Amy. Our first meeting was casual, fun and low pressure. I knew instantly she was the one for our event and gave her the deposit check that night. I feel lucky to be among her brides this year and know any other bride who is lucky enough to work with her will feel the same. Definitely one of the best in California!
I hired Amy to help me with my wedding last month and it was worth every penny. I am so glad I was able to have her help me. I would have never thought of some of the things she br...
ought up, like coordinating tablecloths for the cake table, DJ table, and cocktail tables. She even brought in her own candlelabra from home to put in the fireplace in the cocktail/dance room. With her help, everything went incredibly smoothly. Amy has a great eye for detail, she's honest, and will help you plan a wonderful, sophisticated wedding. You won't be disappointed!
Amy was a fabulous and tireless wedding planner. She offered wonderful creative ideas and walked that fine line between guiding us along and letting the wedding be our own. Her v...
endor lists were the best. I would definitely work with her again and would not hesitate to recommend her to any one.
K. Clark
Between losing our reception site, dealing with a flaky florist and keeping the peace between a couple of family members on rehearsal day, Amy remained calm, cool and collected. S...
he was exactly what I needed in a wedding coordinator and she more than met the challenge. Thank you, Amy!! ox
My husband and I live in Michigan but were married in San Francisco. Without ever being able to meet in person with Amy or Erin, they helped us plan and execute our wedding. We ...
felt instantly comfortable with both of them and trusted their expertise - and we were not disappointed. Our wedding day was perfect and any potential mishaps were averted! We cannot recommend them highly enough! Very deserving of more than 5 stars.
I adore Amy Nichols! My husband and I got married last year and since we were planning a mini-destination wedding for about 185 people, we decided we needed some help. After interv...
iewing 4 or 5 coordinators, Amy definitely stood out. We hired her...and are so glad we did! She never let me down throughout the whole wedding planning process and was an absolute joy to work with. Although she didn't have too, Amy went above and beyond her "month of" planning duties and was there for us whenever we needed her. She helped us with organizing, decor, planning, timelines, and also helped secure amazing vendors in the area as well. Things I love about Amy: She has an amazing eye for detail and design, is super organized, is very good at dealing with people, and is an absolute sweetheart. She's also quite reasonable compared to other coordinators of her caliber, who will require a deposit before they even talk to you about your wedding! Not Amy, she offered helpful wedding advice and answered all my contract questions up front, and through it all had a calm, approachable style...I feel very lucky to have worked with her. So...if you are dreaming of a stylish wedding that you hope someone can help bring to life, hire Amy...she'll make your life so much easier!
I got married in one of the supposed 38,000 weddings that occurred on 10/10/10 and I couldn't have gotten through it without Erin Wood from ANSE. I hired Erin just a few months bef...
ore getting married for the "month-of" services. She in all likelihood did a bit more than her contract required. She met with me at the flower mart to browse through some DIY options even though I decided in the end to go with a florist. She made the table numbers though which were gorgeous! Erin is organized, thoughtful, available and CALM, which is really important for the hectic big day. She is super sweet too which makes working with her all the more easy. She had timelines, vendor lists, etc-- very professional. I don't know how many times I uttered the words "thank god I hired Erin" on the day of my wedding. She is worth very penny and more. Thank you Erin and ANSE for making my wedding day a success!
Amy is wonderful! She is so wonderful that after working with her for years I decided to hire her for my own wedding. I am a wedding floral designer and when I got engaged I knew t...
hat Amy would be a great help in planning my own wedding.
Throughout the planning process she has been incredibly insightful and helpful. She knows so much and has so much experience. What I love most is that Amy is not pushy and never pressures me to do anything, while she is still very firm about what she knows works and does work.
Amy is also very enthusiastic and incredibly professional. She is quick to respond to emails and calls and always thoughtfully replies. This is a quality very important to me and she has exceeded my expectations.
I have referred Amy to many of my clients and now that I have had the experience of working with her from the other side of the planning process, I am even more happy that I have.
I just stated working with Amy, and she has been amazing thus far! She has helped keep my stress level down, and helps me stay focused and on track everyday! I look forward to the ...
rest of our time together!
I have just started working with Amy and I don't know how I would be doing this without her. Even with the best of intentions to have a small and simple wedding, I've quickly rea...
lized there are still a million details. She takes the simplest idea and turns it into something special. Meanwhile, on the practical side of things, she thinks of every little detail and gives great advice. From her website and frequent appearance on blogs, etc., I know Amy can handle the biggest and most fabulous weddings, but what is impressing me is how every suggestion is very tailored to my wedding and reflects what I am looking for. She has great relationships with vendors too. I feel so lucky that I can enjoy the fun parts of wedding planning and trust Amy to take care the rest. I'll report back post-event!
Contact
PO Box 7692, Ventura, CA | Serving California and destinations worldwide
Amy Nichols Special Events